The Reunion
by FlorenceSnow
Summary: WARNING SPOILERS. One/Shot. Stendan Reunite. "I don't know what you want from me anymore Brendan." He didn't even wait a second before replying, he'd never sounded surer of himself. "I want you." The more things change, the more they stay the same.


**Warning**: Spoilers ahead. I suggest you stop reading if you want don't want to be spoiled.

It's probably going to be nothing like this, it'll be darker and more complicated and with twists and turns that will probably lead them further away from each other not back together but a girl can dream right?

So this is my take on Stendan's 'reunion'. One/shot.

...

Ste Hay had never been very good at forgiving people. Not for the big things anyways. He usually threw angrily remarks at them, ignored their phone calls and messages and locked himself away from the world in his flat.

That's exactly what he found himself doing the day after Doug told him the truth about the money. He'd stared at his blue-eyed boyfriend for a moment, tried to calm himself down, and listen to Doug's reasons. But they hadn't been enough, and he'd felt as if Doug had just kicked him in his gut.

So he resorted to what he always did. He gave Doug an angry remark that he could hardly remember but was probably something along the lines of hurt and betrayal and never speaking to him again and then he'd ran out of the Deli, across town, made it to his flat and proceeded to lock himself in his room and just pace.

He could have sworn he was going insane just pacing repeatedly, trying to sort his head through it all but failing. Doug had LIED to him; he'd gotten the money from Brendan of all people. Ste had specifically asked him not to! He'd rather have nothing than be indebted to Brendan that much was certain. And yet here he was, exactly in that situation and going out of his fucking mind.

Eventually though he'd gotten tired, stopped the pacing, threw back a couple of painkillers to help his headache and got into bed. He held back the tears threatening to spill because he'd promised himself long ago that he'd never cry over a man again. They just weren't worth the pain if they were doing it to you.

And then he'd proceeded to spend the next day on the couch watching any old shit that came on telly and ignoring the looks that Amy sent him which ranged from annoyed to worried to comforting.

"You know you can't hide in 'ere all day don't yer?" She'd finally given up the withering glares and made her way over to sit next to him on the sofa, switching the telly off in the process.

"Oi! It were just getting to the good bit." Ste half-heartedly grumbled but didn't make a move to turn it back on. Honestly he couldn't give two shits whodunit. It wasn't like he was actually paying attention, but the blaze from the telly had been a welcome distraction.

"Doug is eventually gonna give up all the calls and texts and come over 'ere, Ste! Ye know yer gonna have te eventually talk to him right?" She sighed, "I know he hurt ye but he thought ye wanted the Deli no matter what."

Ste turned to look at her tiredly, "I just need a few hours to meself, Ames, I just need to figure out what to do next. I'll face him eventually but not right now."

Thank God the kids were at Mikes and he didn't need to be worrying about them at the same time. He needed these few hours to himself.

"Listen, I know yer off to see Ally but could you pop by the Deli or Doug's place and just let him know to not come round today? I promise I'll talk to him tomorrow yeah."

Amy agreed with a sigh, commenting that if that's what Ste wanted that was exactly what she'd do. She reckoned he was being a bit too hard on him though, but then Amy had always been a kind spirit, all too easily forgiving and ready to see the good in people. Ste wasn't quite as naive, at least not anymore.

He found himself pulling out his phone and staring at its screen though. He'd put it on silent after the first 5 rings and like 10 messages came through and now his phone was practically overloaded with missed calls, voice mails and unread texts.

It wasn't surprising that all of them were from Doug repeating the same thing over and over again. He was sorry, he wanted to see Ste, he wanted to explain it all properly, he wanted to give them another shot, he wanted to make it up to him and all things like that.

Ste felt his resolve slipping slightly. This was Doug he was mad at, and whilst he'd hurt him and lied to him his intentions had been pure. Doug would never intentionally set out to hurt him and that had to stand for something.

Three short knocks on the door were what brought Ste back out of the thinking bubble he'd buried himself him. He turned to look towards the door and caught sight of a set of sparkling keys on the nearby coffee table that Amy had obviously forgotten. He pushed his phone away and got up letting out a light chuckle.

"I swear Ames, you're dead forgetful! You'd forget your head if it weren't screwed o-."

Having opened the door, keys in hand ready to give away Ste stumbled on his words to an abrupt end as his eyes focused on who was standing outside the door - unless Amy had gone and grew herself a mustache in the last few minutes it certainly wasn't her.

Finally Ste snapped out of his haze, sighing loudly, "What are you doing 'ere Brendan?"

Brendan flashed him a smile and then shoved his way past, grabbing the extended keys and placing them back on the table, "I like what you've done with the place. Yer. It's looking much more... Homey."

Ste rolled his eyes and folded his arms in front of his chest, "Right, is that all you came round for? To inspect the new furniture, cos trust me I ain't got time for this."

Brendan smirked at him in response, "Yer, sorry I dragged you away from the pleasures of day time TV and scrutinizing over yer phone. Thrilling days work, I'm sure."

Mocking him, as always. He always knew how to bring him down, didn't he? Well Ste wasn't in the mood for his games. Not anymore. He motioned out the door which he'd yet to close, "Almost about as thrilling as this conversation yeah. How about you go now?"

"Now is that any way to talk to a guest Stephen?" Brendan moved towards him and deliberately placed his hand on top of Ste's on the door and slowly pushed it shut. It didn't take long for Ste to snatch his hand back as if Brendan's touch had scorched it or something.

He pretended it to look disgusted by the fact Brendan had touched him but really he hated the way his heart sped up because of it.

"I saw Douglas earlier." Brendan finally cut to the chase, "He said he told ye everything. How brave. Didn't go down well though did it?"

Ste stared at him through narrowed eyes. Who did Brendan think he was fooling? Did he really expect Ste to believe he hadn't been hanging it over Doug's head ever since the deal was made? Please. Ste knew him better than that.

"It doesn't matter." Ste finally resolved, "Me and Doug's relationship ain't none of yer business."

"Oh but it is! I invested my money into you two didn't I? You stop getting along, the business fails, bye bye £80,000."

Ste ran a hand exasperatingly across his face, God he was so sick of this! This was his breaking point, he was due to snap any minute, "Why'd you do it, eh Brendan? Why do you have to mess everything up for me all the time? Does it really give you that much pleasure to ruin my life?"

Brendan visibly flinched at the accusation, all traces of teasing and joking thrown aside he touched the top of his nose between his eyebrows in a desperate manner. "Ye really think I did this to hurt ye?"

"I told you, I didn't want yer money!"

"So what, Stephen, what am I meant to do? Just sit back and let you keep your pride but loose the business? Let your kids down because daddy was too proud to accept help from me?"

Ste let out a deep breathe, "You're the one that put me in that situation in the first place. You fired me."

"Yeah." At least he had the decency to look ashamed over that. "Yeah, I did. I made a mistake, but this was me trying to make it up to ye. I swear Stephen, on my kids life I swear to ye, I only want what's best for ye."

It was a weird moment, on Ste's part, watching Brendan as he said the words. The way his blue eyes bore into his own articulated that they were the truth and that scared him. It scared him because it awoke a feeling inside him, a ghost of an emotion that he thought he'd buried long ago. Once upon a time he'd loved Brendan Brady. It's hard to truly let something like that go.

"I don't know what you want from me anymore Brendan."

He didn't even wait a second before replying. Ste thought he'd never heard Brendan sounded surer of himself.

"I want you."

It threw him for a moment, the bluntness of it. He'd only really heard Brendan say something like that once before. _I want ye Stephen_. It'd been almost a year since then. Then Eileen happened, Declan came, Rae's murder, Brendan going to prison, the firing, Declan again, and then the Deli and Doug. But still the feelings remain.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

"I've moved on." Ste replied forcefully. He willed the words to be true. He'd told himself they were on several occasions, even believed then sometimes. He wasn't sure whether or not he was just fooling himself.

Brendan took a step further towards him, too close like always. It'd been a long time, too long, since they'd been this close.

"I want us to be together Stephen." He breathed, "You and me."

Ste stared back at him startled. How many times in his life had he dreamed of Brendan saying that? Wished that he'd want him in that way, in the way that Ste did. Years he'd held onto those dreams. Too many years.

"I told ye-"

"Stop lying to yourself Stephen. For once, lets just tell each other the truth."

Ste scoffed at that. Fuck him. Seriously? Who did he think he was telling him to stop lying; Brendan was a borderline compulsive liar as well as psychopath.

"So you want me?" Ste stepped forward a little. Two could play at this game. "You want to be my...?"

Brendan pouted for a moment but replied all the same, "Boyfriend."

He hid his shock as well as he could and continued, "And you'd be ok with everyone knowing about us? Walking out in public holding hands and kissing. People talking about the new gay couple?"

He could see the resentment behind Brendan's eyes clearly. But maybe that would never change. It had been drilled into him from an early age; he'd been forced to think of gays as queers. That they were wrong, that he was wrong. Self-resentment lay buried deep belong the confident bad boy exterior.

But more so, and maybe more than ever, Ste could see Brendan fighting with that part of himself. Willing himself to get past it. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen Brendan having a bigger internal battle than this one.

He finally snapped. "For God's sake Stephen. We can be a couple of fucking pansy's that the whole world talks about and I wouldn't care as long you're with me."

Ste didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that statement. God it felt like he'd waited his whole life to hear those words. Here he was finally saying them but it was too late. Wasn't it?

"Why?" He whispered, "Why now Brendan?"

"Because I don't wanna lose ye ok." Brendan shrugged, "You're an annoying lil' fucker some times, but I love ye. I do."

Ste closed his eyes at the statement. Fuck. He'd closed the door to that part of himself, or so he thought he had. But here he was hearing Brendan say those three words all over again and he can't help it. He can't help but feel like it's last year again and he's never wanted anything more than the man standing in front of him.

"Let's cut the sentimental bullshit eh?" Ste opened his eyes to find Brendan opening the front door; "You find me when you've decided what ye want. I'll be waiting."

And just like that he was gone.

'I'll be waiting'? Seriously, who says that? Ste found himself kicking the door angrily, where did he hear that from, some cheesy film? Well this wasn't a film this was his life Brendan was messing with.

He couldn't just turn up at his door and announce those things, pretending that he's changed, roping him back in. He'd hurt Ste too many times to count and that wasn't something Ste could just pretend never happened and put behind him.

He found himself winding back up on the couch, staring at his phone. 3 new messages from Doug awaited him.

Isn't this what he had wanted? His own business so that he could make something of himself and be able to help earn for his family. A boyfriend who loved him, like Doug claimed to. Who was sweet and funny and amazing and who was his friend. Who would never intentionally do anything to hurt him?

And yet there was something pecking at the back of his mind. He'd be an idiot to go back to Brendan. It'd end up with tears cried and fists thrown and most probably a line of 'told you so's' by everyone that knew him.

But here he was two years down the road of their rocky history presented with something in life that he'd, arguably, wanted the most. Arguably, fought for the most.

He doesn't owe Brendan Brady a single thing. But maybe, just maybe, he owes himself something. He owes it to himself to finally let himself have what he's wanted these past few years. Here he was presented with it and he knew he'd regret it if he didn't finally take that chance. For one last time.

And if it ended badly and nothing came of it at least he'd still get another thing that he'd wanted for some time. Closure.

Ste stared at his phone for a moment longer, the last text from Doug displayed for him. _Forgive me. Please. I love you._

Did he? Maybe. At the back of Ste's mind he thought about the fact that maybe Doug was just confused and finding himself and Ste was just a side road along Doug's coming out. The first person he'd felt something for since Becks. The first man he'd felt anything for. Was he just confusing those feelings that were new and confusing with love? Ste didn't know.

And maybe _he_ loved Doug. He thought he did, in a way. He loved him as a mate for sure. He was attracted to him too. But was he _in love _with him?

He didn't know the answer to that question. It was too soon for love with Doug, too soon for anything other than caring for him.

And that wasn't enough to stop him. That wasn't enough at all.

...

It'd been a while since Ste had climbed the steps up to ChezChez feeling like he did at that moment. It was weird feeling that mixture of emotions ranging from nervousness to anticipation and excitement and even deep down dread and worry. God he was probably the making the biggest mistake of his life.

His feet didn't stop climbing though.

Once he reached the top of the stairs he found Brendan sitting with his back to him drowning a generous helping of amber liquid at the bar. Liquid courage, Ste noted, he could use some of that.

Brendan turned around at the sound of Ste's footsteps and they met eyes. Blue on blue. It was weird the sort of moments he found himself in with Brendan, standing staring at each other wordlessly like some kind of old western show down. Except they weren't competing, they were coming together. Finally.

"You came." Brendan finally spoke and it seemed to break them both out of their trance. Ste moved from his spot at the top of the stairs and made his way over to the sofa, sitting down and watching as Brendan joined him a bottle of beer in his hands, placing it on the table before Ste.

Sometimes he swore it was like Brendan read his mind. He suddenly felt extremely thirsty and chugged back the cold drink whilst Brendan sat down on the sofa on the other side of the table.

"Yep." He finally said, "I'm 'ere."

And I'm an idiot, he added internally. He was. He'd just convinced himself he'd be an even bigger one if he'd walked away instead.

"Why?" Brendan asked this time.

There were so many answers floating around in his head. Because he needed to see it through to the end. Because he still wanted Brendan after everything that happened. Because at the end of the day all he really ever wanted was Brendan.

"Because I love you."

It was fucking painful to say and it'd been years since the words had left his mouth the first time. That didn't make them any less true. Time may have scarred them both, gave them a haunted history and most probably a sordid future but those words would never be tainted. Those words would _always _be true.

"But I'm strong now Brendan, and I swear I will never put up with the things you did again."

Brendan nodded once. His eyes clouded over and an expression fell over his face that was enough for Ste. Brendan Brady doesn't do regret. Unless it's for him that is.

"Never again."

"And there's one more thing." Ste added.

The last thing. The most important thing because no matter what his future came first - and his family even before that.

"The debt, I want it to be written off." Ste continued with his explanation regardless to the fact Brendan didn't react to the request at all, "I need something to myself Brendan. My Deli it has to be mine, it's my future. I need to know that it'll always be 100% mine... No matter what happens in the future. Or between us."

The insinuation is enough for Brendan to understand and the statement hung in heavily in the air between them.

One thing Ste had always hated was the fact that Brendan was so hard to read. He himself had always been an open book; his face expressed everything he was feeling all the time no matter what. Brendan however had mastered his poker face since birth it seemed.

Ste just wished he could know what Brendan was thinking.

"So I wipe the Deli's debt. All £80,000?" Brendan asked softly.

It was a lot to ask for; Ste knew that, he wasn't thick. But he needed to ask for it because he needed to know that he was going into this relationship clean. That he was only tied to Brendan in one way and one way only and if they were to ever go their separate ways it would be infinitely over. He'd never be tied to Brendan ever again if he didn't want to be.

The thought scared him a little, the idea of never having to see Brendan again but at the same time he knew the two of them. Knew that if the relationship did come to an end it would end in blood sweat and tears. He'd need to walk away from it somehow with nothing hanging over his head.

"For me." Ste nodded, "For us."

Brendan slowly got up from his seat on the sofa and placed his hands on the table between them, leaning over it so his face was mere centimeters away from Ste's.

Ste could feel his heart beat speed up. This was it - all or nothing. This was the deciding moment. His blue eyes couldn't help but stray down to look at Brendan's lips for a moment. It'd been a year since they'd kissed. A whole year.

It suddenly felt like too long ago.

Somehow his heart was still doing the same flips it always did whenever he felt as though Brendan's lips were going to touch his again. He knew at that moment that he'd just been fooling himself if he ever thought that he was actually over Brendan. A part of him doubted that would ever happen.

"We have ourselves a deal." Brendan whispered.

He could have sworn he felt his whole face brighten. They did? Brendan was really doing this; he was really going to erase the debt for them to have a clean future?

A small smile graced his features and he whispered back a thank you that died on his lips as Brendan's face neared his again.

"How about we kiss on it?"

Cheesy. Ste thought. How cheesy. Who was this guy and what had he done with Brendan Brady?

But he didn't have a second to mercilessly tease him about it before Brendan dipped his head even further and attached their lips across the table.

The fireworks were still there, exploding around them, Ste thought.

Finally, after two years, they'd made it.

He pulled away first, breathing heavier than he'd expected to and smiled lightly, "Yer getting dead cheesy you."

"Watch the teasing boy." Brendan warned but the there was a tone to his voice letting Ste know that he was joking too.

"Ye must be watching those _really _old cheese-tastic movies from when ye were a kid, all that time ago."

"You calling me old?"

"I believe I am. Old man." Ste giggled a little before pausing and looking up to stare at Brendan. He hadn't felt this ghost feeling of affection fall over him for a long time. His hand moved up, grabbed Brendan's tie, "My man." He whispered, before pulling him forward and colliding their lips again.

They fit perfectly together. Like two halves of a whole.

Like this was how they were always meant to be.

…

**End**


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